Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and three members of the South African Rugby Union’s High Performance Mobi-Unit renewed their BokSmart certifications in Cape Town on Thursday.

The BokSmart certification is compulsory for anybody who wants to coach or referee rugby in South Africa at any level.

Meyer, Springbok scrum consultant Pieter de Villiers, Springbok kicking consultant Louis Koen and Chean Roux, who is responsible for technical analysis as part of the Mobi-Unit, was given the course by Dr Wayne Viljoen, BokSmart Manager at SARU.

“Making the game we all love safer at all levels, is very important if we are going to grow rugby in South Africa,” said Meyer, who attended his second BokSmart course.

“This initiative by SARU is vitally important for rugby and I would encourage every coach and referee, if they haven’t already done so, to get in touch with their local provincial unions to attain their BokSmart certification as soon as possible.

“As a coach, your first priority has always to be the player and his or her safety, and it doesn’t matter at which level of the game it is. BokSmart provides a lot of necessary knowledge for coaches at both professional and amateur level.”

Dr Viljoen said it was great to see the eagerness and willingness with which these top professional coaches in South Africa got behind the programme.

“It was a fantastic session with Heyneke, Pieter, Louis and Chean,” said Viljoen. “They really got stuck in and interacted with the content, and were really positive about the programme and what it aims to achieve; true ambassadors of the game.

“If our top-level coaches can make time for this important initiative, there is no reason why all coaches in South Africa can’t do the same. They set a superb example for the many other coaches out there, especially with the spirit in which they approached the course. Nothing is more important than the on-field safety of our rugby players.”

More information about the BokSmart programme available at www.boksmart.com, or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BokSmart) or Twitter (@Boksmart).